Science News

Using stem cell technology, scientists were able to grow enough skin to save a child's life. A 7-year-old suffering from junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB), a rare genetic disease, was expected to die. Yet two years removed from the surgery he's alive.

China is known to be working on a spaceplane that's reusable and capable of taking off from a runway. Some of its alleged features haven't been publicly confirmed, but the government has confirmed its existence. It says the vehicle will launch in 2020.

SpaceX's successful launch on Monday brought the company's 2017 launch figure to 16, doubling its prior annual record of eight missions. Its launches have increased and decreased in frequency throughout the year, leading to an average of 1.5 missions per month.

China is making a big move against pollution by temporarily shuttering up to 40% of factories in the country. Those facilities have been closed by safety inspectors who are carrying out investigations of emission limit breaches. 80,000 have been charged with criminal offenses.

The Tiangong-1, an 8.5-ton Chinese space station, is going to crash to Earth within the next few months, reports The Guardian. Because its orbit has been decaying, a fall out of orbit must occur soon. Speaking with the UN in 2016, China said it couldn't correct its altitude.

SpaceX hasn't carried out any Falcon 9 launches in the past month, but it's coming back with two in a span of just three days. It'll first launch 10 satellites into orbit on Monday and then it'll carry out another mission on Wednesday. The former starts in California.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, commonly known as Berkeley Lab, is receiving $3 million per year from the Department of Energy for its quantum computing research. That money is going to research that could "solve some of science's hardest problems."

NASA is pushing back the launch date of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It was going to enter Earth's orbit in October 2018, but now the launch has been scheduled for sometime between March and June 2019.

Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, and the US' NASA have both released statements revealing their intention to work together on a base that'll orbit the moon. The countries share a "common vision for human exploration," which is why they're working together.

SpaceX was successful with its launch of the Air Force's X-37B spaceplane earlier today and it also recovered its first stage booster. It launched the experimental craft from the Kennedy Space Center just ahead of Hurricane Irma's arrival in Florida.

SpaceX has finished testing three first stage cores for its Falcon Heavy rocket. The testing was carried out at its McGregor, Texas facility and the process started back in May. All of this work is leading up to an actual launch of the rocket, which is mainly three Falcon 9s.

SpaceX has successfully launched its 12th Falcon 9 rocket of the year, with this mission carrying a satellite from Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) to space. The rocket launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base and carried the NSPO's FORMOSAT-5 satellite.

SpaceX has developed a space suit that may be used by NASA astronauts and pictures of the suit are due to be released shortly, says CEO Elon Musk. As part of the NASA Commercial Crew Program, the company has created its own next-generation space suit.

SpaceX is preparing to launch a much larger rocket for the first time in November. The company's Falcon Heavy is "the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor or two," says CEO Elon Musk. It'll be capable of bringing larger payloads to space.

The first satellite from Ghana to ever reach space was carried beyond Earth by SpaceX a couple months ago. A cubesat from a team at Ghana's All Nations University was aboard one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets in June and it was delivered to the International Space Station.

Scientists in the US have used CRISPR, a gene editing tool, to alter human embryos for the first time. During the trial, they used the technology to correct a genetic mutation that'd normally result in a heart defect. The test was carried out successfully by Shoukhrat Mitalipov.

NASA is continuing development of a quiet supersonic jet that'll make the same amount of noise as a car driving on a highway. The space agency has begun accepting bids for a 94-foot demo version of the aircraft. It tunnel-tested the aircraft last month.

In preparation for China's first manned journey to the Moon, four postgraduate volunteers will live in a sealed laboratory for 200 days. The lab facility is meant to replicate the conditions that'll be encountered when people are sent to space. Their stay began on Sunday.

After two delays that prevented SpaceX from carrying out a Falcon 9 mission on Sunday and Monday, the company may try again tonight. SpaceX typically hasn't encountered multiple delays of this sort. The first was triggered by an issue with the rocket's computer guidance system.

Renewable energy was the exclusive power source for all of China's Qinghai region from June 17 to June 23. That region received all of its power from solar, wind, and hydropower for a week, demonstrating how far renewables have come. Chinese is testing the viability of the tech.